Car Insurance Claim Issues

corbyboy

I have the pleasure of being insured by the fantastic 1st Central Insurance. I had a crash about 3 months ago. In my opinion it was the other driver's fault but they thought it was my fault. I got my car fixed and they have paid the garage so I am back on the road now.

I got an independent witness (a man I had never met before who witnessed it) who was asked by 1st Central for his account.

Then nothing happened for a month, so I phoned them and asked what was happening and why nobody has even taken my account of the incident. They said they would send me a form to fill in with a place for a sketch. I filled this in in great detail and even printed off a satellite map and drew a diagram on there.

Then, again, nothing for another month.

I then started ringing them about twice a week. The person I spoke to every time had nothing they could tell me about the progress of the claim. They didn't even seem to be able to access any information. Every single time I was told "we will get the underwriters to give you a call back within 24 hours." I have not received a single phone call from them since this incident. Not one.

I gave up phoning and decided to email them instead. After two weeks I finally received a reply asking me for a detailed description of events and a sketch of what happened!

Any advice on what I can do about these clowns? It has now been 3 months since the incident and it seems they have done nothing. I can honestly see them writing to me in 6 months and telling me they have lost all the paperwork so are just going to settle 50/50.

Quentin

Follow their complaints procedure. Don't waste any more time ringing them - use snail mail, keep copies and send it recorded delivery.

oscarward

My understanding of 1st central is that to keep costs down they don't have a contentious claim department. Were you offered an accident management company?

Basically if you make a claim on your own insurance they fix the car and dock you the excess and NCB.

If you wish to dispute fault then they hand it over to an accident management company who will fund you an equivalent hire car whilst trying to get the other party to admit liability. This can cause delays to getting the car repaired. In my case the other side admitted straight off so no problem but not sure what happens if there is a dispute.

They also don't have an out of hours claim team but contract that out to another 3rd party company. Gets a bit confusing who you talk to, 3 different claim numbers in my case and communication between the companies is a bit patchy.

corbyboy

oscarward wrote: »

My understanding of 1st central is that to keep costs down they don't have a contentious claim department. Were you offered an accident management company?

Basically if you make a claim on your own insurance they fix the car and dock you the excess and NCB.

If you wish to dispute fault then they hand it over to an accident management company who will fund you an equivalent hire car whilst trying to get the other party to admit liability. This can cause delays to getting the car repaired. In my case the other side admitted straight off so no problem but not sure what happens if there is a dispute.

They also don't have an out of hours claim team but contract that out to another 3rd party company. Gets a bit confusing who you talk to, 3 different claim numbers in my case and communication between the companies is a bit patchy.

Thanks for the information but this isn't the experience that I have had. I guess if somebody admits liability then most insurance claims are pretty straightfoward no matter who the company is.

But the other driver won't admit liability and I won't either.

They don't seem to have any provision for dealing with calls out of hours, whether through themselves or another company.

When I first told them I didn't regard the accident as my fault I was contacted by a claims management company but they refused to handle the case as the other side won't admit liability either. I was not offered any other company after this.

Every time I call it's always "we will get the underwriters (I think that's what they say) to give you a call back."

Not going to waste my time phoning or emailing them any more. Just going straight for the letter.

oscarward

What they said to me was if the other driver admitted fault then I should claim off his insurance. i.e. don't claim on mine but contact the other insurer directly.

If I made a claim on mine then I would have to pay the excess no matter what, but if my insurance recovered all their costs then I would keep my NCB and I could recover my excess directly from the other driver.

corbyboy

oscarward wrote: »

What they said to me was if the other driver admitted fault then I should claim off his insurance. i.e. don't claim on mine but contact the other insurer directly.

If I made a claim on mine then I would have to pay the excess no matter what, but if my insurance recovered all their costs then I would keep my NCB and I could recover my excess directly from the other driver.

This is correct, but the other driver didn't admin fault, otherwise I would be able to claim from their insurers.

I had to pay the excess. It's true that if they recover their costs they will refund my excess. The problem is they are clearly not doing anything about it. That's the reason I am annoyed in the first place.

oscarward

I think that a lot of insurance companies won't argue. If you don't have good proof such as witnesses then they will settle on a knock for knock otherwise it will end up in the hands of solicitors which only costs more money without any certainty of winning.

If you feel you have a strong case wave a solicitor at the other side and see what happens. A county court small claims case only costs £100 I have just discovered.